With nearby parks plagued by E.coli in recent years, Marth's preliminary work shows restored wetlands can help reduce the level of disease-causing bacteria.

"This water drains directly into Lake Michigan," said Marth, 20, an incoming junior. " A lot of people use it.

"There are people swimming. A lot of it goes through people's backyards. People are in contact with this everyday so they want to know how clean it is."

With help from fellow Valparaiso student Adam Conner, Marth spent 40-hour weeks taking samples from more than a dozen sites in the Great Marsh and nearby wetland areas.

Marshes are supposed to filter out pollution as water flows through them.

But there are few studies on the success of restored wetlands, such as Indiana Dunes,
which has committed to a multi-million-dollar restoration project.

And according to what Marth has learned so far, the park made a wise investment -- restored wetlands apparently benefit communities the same way by making water cleaner.

"When you live in an area that's impacted by what comes in from Lake Michigan, it's nice to know what's going on around you," said Marth, who will share data with nearby communities and the U.S. National Park Service.

"The community residents are very aware of the type of area they live in and are really concerned about the environment around them."

The data may also encourage more communities that are in wet areas to opt for building a series of wetlands instead of a water treatment plant, Marth said.

"That tends to more natural and environmentally friendly," she said.

Marth received a $10,000 grant from the Indiana-based Flora Richardson Foundation for the project after writing a proposal.

Restoration of marshes and wetland areas has been growing in National Park Service units throughout the country.

Marth studied samples from 12 different sites through a three-mile stretch of the Great Marsh, checking water quality indicators such as nitrate and heavy metal levels.

"She really dug into the project," said Valparaiso University chemistry professor Jonathan Schoer, who was Marth's mentor on the project.

"We're looking at the benefits wetlands can provide and actually trying to reaffirm that it's worth the time and effort to get them back in normally functioning condition or something close to what is has been."